Why 50 Women Teamed Up To Build The Retail Store Of Your Dreams

Ali KriegsmanAugust 07 2018

Bulletin has built stores before. As a fast-paced startup with a scrappy, go-getter mentality, we’ve made fixtures with our bare hands, painted walls top-to-bottom, and merchandised spaces for days on end, stumbling out in the wee hours of the morning just before doors open. Our full-time team is a modest 9-women strong, but we pour our all into every new store we launch. That’s because Bulletin stores aren’t just for us or our growth - they’re meant to spotlight the 150 female-led brands that choose to sell product in our spaces. We want to make it easy, affordable, and fun to support women-owned businesses. And it’s a mission we’ll pull all-nighters for.

Alana and I wanted to take that mission to the next level and launch a retail destination in one of the busiest, most historic parts of New York City. Our team got to work on brainstorming a big, bold, flagship store built for women, by women. A store that properly showcased the female-led businesses we work with every single day. A store that made customers feel welcome, understood, accepted, and excited. A store that felt driven by community, not just sales. Our team of 9 realized that if we were going to build this ambitious Bulletin Flagship, we needed help. We needed an architect, designer, expeditor, contractor, creative director - and we wanted all of them to be women.

We focused on this explicitly, because retail and real estate are both predominantly male. Almost every property owner we’ve ever met was a dude. Ditto for New York City brokers, real estate investors, and retail business owners. Most of the stores you’ve ever seen in your life are conceived of, designed by, and owned by men. It’s a silent reality you probably don’t think about every day. But just like any other industry - entertainment, finance, government, tech - most of Major Decision Makers are men. The Big Wigs. The Power Players. The Machers (just to throw in a little Yiddish).

We built Bulletin Flagship to challenge the boys’ club. What does a store look and feel like when women are making the Major Decisions? What happens when women touch every single stage of a store’s development?What are we capable of?

Fast forward to today, and I’m proud to say we - our expanded store team of 50 brilliant women - were capable of accomplishing a lot. We built a beautiful, innovative store in the heart of New York’s historic Ladies’ Mile. Ladies’ Mile serves as a significant location, becausein the 19th century, this district served as an upscale retail hub where women could shop without male counterparts for the first time. In its prime, Ladies' Mile was known for its opulent architecture, fine dining destinations, and crowds of upper-class women. With our Flagship space, Bulletin is reclaiming and redefining this landmark retail hub. Where Ladies' Mile has historically represented exclusivity, wealth, and economic dependence on men, our new flagship store values inclusivity, accessibility, and financial independence. We want customers to feel welcomed and celebrated, we want them to find affordable product that doesn’t break the bank, and we want them to feel good about directly supporting female-led brands.

This project would have been flat-out impossible to pull off without the 50 women who, including us, poured their all into this store. From demolition, to construction, through product curation and financial management, we had enthusiastic, passionate women on-the-case. Below, meet the 50 women who built Bulletin Flagship. We are honored to call them part of our family, and humbled they gave us their time, creativity, and expertise. Bulletin believes women can accomplish a lot when they support one another and invest in each other. Bulletin Flagship serves as a testament to exactly that.

Meet The 50 Incredible Women That Made It Happen

Alana Branston

Co-Founder + CEO, Bulletin

Alda Ly

Principal, Alda Ly Architecture & Design

Alexa Deleon

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Alexandra Díaz-Alemán

Brand Experience Manager, Bulletin

Ali Kriegsman

Co-Founder + COO, Bulletin

Allyx Seemann

Lead Designer, Built Interest

Anastasia Lovera

Model + Artist

Angelina Cosmo

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Apple Drysdale

Model + Influencer

Avideh Yamotahari

Visual Retail Consultant

Bren Galvez-Moretti

Project Manager, Alda Ly Architecture

Candace Braude

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Chloe DeChambeau

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Christina Bechtel

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Danielle Tancredi

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Daria Donato

Marketing Manager, Bulletin

Debbi McElligott

Coding and Zoning Consultant

Emma Meres

Creative Producer

Frances Molina

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Jehiah Cook

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Jessica Maktal

Design + Build Director, Aerial Design and Build

Jessica McGowan

Freelance Art Director

Julie Kelley

Principal, Aerial Design and Build

KhrystyAna Kelly

Model

Kiara Brown

Visual Associate, Bulletin

Laura Mueller-Soppart

CEO, Built Interest

Lauren Lucitt

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Lauren Rodgers

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Lauren Young

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Loretta Choi

Project Architect, Alda Ly Architecture

Mackenzie Brady

Assistant Store Manager, Bulletin

Maeve Kinney

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Maggie Braine

Director of Product + Brand Experience, Bulletin

Mahin Khan

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Maria Chimishkyan

Art Director, Bulletin

Melissa Rosenfield

Founder + CEO, This Vibe Life

Michaela Norman

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Natasa Stojadinovic

Project Manager, Codetribe

Pan Dulce

Model + Influencer

Pierrah Hilaire

Model

Rachel Hodes

Communications Manager, Bulletin

Rupila Sethi

Principal, Aerial Design and Build

Samantha Schaevitz

Logo Mark Illustrator

Savannah Smith

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Sofia Pascual

Marketing Intern, Bulletin

Sona Martirosian

Director of Digital Marketing, Bulletin

Sydney Wiener

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

Vanessa Agosto

Product Operations + Logistics Intern, Bulletin

Vanessa Enriquez

Product + Visual Manager, Bulletin

Vivian Arias

Brand Experience Leader, Bulletin

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